PACK EXPO International 2026 — Oct 18-21 Chicago | Booth Builder

PACK EXPO International 2026 takes place 18-21 October at McCormick Place in Chicago. PMMI expects more than 2,600 exhibitors across 1.3 million net square feet and roughly 48,000 attendees from over 40 vertical markets — the largest packaging and processing event in the Americas, and the one Turkish machinery exporters most often name as their US entry point.

McCormick Place is four buildings, not one hall

PACK EXPO fills North, South, West and Lakeside Center. Which building you land in changes your logistics entirely: dock access, freight routing, ceiling heights and rigging capability differ, and a visitor walking the South building may never reach Lakeside. Before we design, we check your booth number against the building plan — a stand designed for a 30-foot ceiling that lands in a lower hall is a redesign nobody has time for in October.

The union and drayage reality

US show floors run on union jurisdictions and official drayage: who may carry your crate, who may plug in a cable, who may hang a sign — and every movement is billed by weight and handling. Exhibitors shipping from Türkiye routinely lose the savings of a cheaper stand to freight and material-handling charges. We build American projects through our US production network so the stand originates domestically: no ocean freight, no customs exposure, no crating cost, and drayage on a fraction of the weight.

Machinery on the floor

Packaging machinery exhibitors run live lines, and that means floor load calculations, power drops specified in advance, guarding that satisfies the venue's safety review, and a demonstration layout that keeps visitors at a safe distance without hiding the machine. We plan these with your engineering team rather than around them, and handle the advance-order paperwork whose deadlines carry real discounts.

Timing

PACK EXPO opens 18 October 2026. With US production the comfortable decision point is late August; advance-order deadlines for electrical, rigging and internet at McCormick Place close earlier and get more expensive after. Send your booth number and machine list — a 3D concept and an all-in price band including drayage and labor arrives within 24 hours.